Kunming, China 30th May, 2008

Spent a few days wandering around Kunming. Went to the local market where you could pick up anything from Nunchukas to guns to goldfish to piglets to jade to furniture and just about everything in between.

Also picked up our Vietnamese visas (not at the market) yeehah

Kunming, China 27th May, 2008

Finally arrived in Kunming after a mammoth 45 hour journey (we had to be diverted round the quake zone) but were just happy to arrive in one piece.

Kunming is nice and pretty and our hostel (the hump!) is quite nice.

Xi'an, China 25th May, 2008

Sitting in the bar at the hostel today reading a book, I thought someone was leaning again the sofa and making it move. When I looked up, there was no-one there. It was then that I realised that all the furniture was moving and the water in the fish pond in the bar was sloshing everywhere. At the same moment everyone in the bar realised the same thing. It was another earthquake!

Everyone got up and ran outside in a panic. Luckily, it was over very quickly and nothing was damaged. It was really scary though, especially for the locals who had also felt the original quake last week. We later discovered that this one was 5.4 on the richter scale.

Xi'an, China 23rd May, 2008

Had to change hostels this morning as it was full and we hadn't booked ahead. Luckily, the new one (next door to the old one) is even better.

Cycled round the old city walls which was really lovely, although rather hot. I looked like Billy Beetroot by the time I had finished.

Xi'an, China 21st May, 2008

Got the bus this morning to go and see the Terracotta Warriers. It was pretty impressive. There are a lot more of them than I thought they would be and they still have 6000 to uncover. Many of them are in pieces and they are trying to fit them all back together like a big jigsaw puzzle. Rather them than me.

In the evening we met up with a bunch of others who were going to stay up and watch the Man U v Chelsea match that is on at 3am here. Decided to join them. It was a fantastic night with loads of laughs. We left at 5am when it was already light out.

Deciding that we were starving and the restaurant in the hostel wasn't open for another 2 hours David and I walked to the 24 hr Macdonalds and had a slap up Macci D. What a fab day/night!

Xi'an, China 20th May, 2008

After a few days hanging around Beijing, we caught the sleeper train the Xi'an, home of the terracotta warriers. Xi'an is quite a nice town with lots of expensive shops. It's also quite hot and humid here. We spotted palm trees on the way down.

Our hostel is quite nice but our dorm is down in the basement and it feels a bit like a dungeon.

Beijing, China 16th May, 2008

We are finally back in China. The journey back on the trans mongolian was great. After going through customs at the border (where they felt it necessary to check through my bag twice) the train went into a siding where the carriages where unhooked from each other. Each carriage was then lifted from its wheels and then lowered back onto new ones. This is due to the fact that China runs on narrower gauge tracks than Europe and so they have to change the wheels each time the train crosses the border. It was great to watch. There were loads of train enthusiasts on the trains taking millions of photos of the whole thing. (I do have to admit here, that yes, I too took loads of photos)

On arriving back in China we discovered that there had been a terrible earthquake whilst we were in Mongolia. It was really bad. Over 8 on the richter scale and the devestation is enormous. There are over 50, 000 known to be dead already and it's expected to rise. There are lots of people queueing nearby to give blood to help the survivors. There's nothing else to say really except that it's just terrible.

Mongolia tour 14th May, 2008

Day 8. Left for UB. Discovered that our guesthouse had managed to get David and I on the Trans Mongolian for the journey back to Beijing.

Had last meal with Kenneth before we go our seperate ways. He has been a great source of entertainment on this trip and has taught me a couple of Swedish phrases (perhaps useful) and one Norwegian phrase (disgracefully rude and one I shall of course never use).

Mongolia tour 13th May, 2008

Day 7 of the tour saw us in Karakorum, the original capital of Mongolia. It's now just a bit of a dust town (tumbleweeds really do blow through the streets) but it does have a beautiful budhist temple.

After dinner we were entertained by an old guy with a Ghingis Khan mustache who played the traditional chinese flute, harp and horse fiddle. It was really good music. A lot more funky than I was expecting. It reminded me a little of American bluegrass. I have no idea what he sang about and it was really good. He also did throat singing which is just plain bizare. Definately, one of the highlights of this trip.

Mongolia tour 12th May, 2008

Day 6. Today is a very warm sunny day (the weather here is mad!) . We made the long drive to the hot springs (for this read hot showers)

We are staying in a tourist ger camp which hasn't really opened yet (the summer season here only lasts from June to July). But nevertheless, the showers are hot (so hot we couldn't actually get under them).

After dinner Kenneth and I (Linda) had a dip in the hot springs. We sat in there for a few hours until we had put the world to rights and turned into prunes. It was lovely with the moon shining and the wind blowing. When we got out we discovered that funny man David had stolen all our clothes. He got his just desserts though as he slipped as he ran away and hurt his foot. Ha

Had chocolate for supper bought from a little shop here in the middle of nowhere that sold chocolate, beer, cigarettes, toilet paper and half a cow! I kid you not.

Mongolia tour 11th May, 2008

Day 5. Got up early and packed up the horses for our trek back down the mountain. We must all be getting fitter as we steamed ahead and got back to the bus early.

The sun has come out and melted the snow and everthing looks different again.

Spent the afternoon relaxing and helping Bogie with her English.

Mongolia tour 10th May, 2008

Day 4. After our horrible night in the tent from hell (I spent most of the night holding the wall of the tent away from my face) we scurried into the nearby ger to dry off our sleeping bags and warm up.

After breakfast we set of for a trek to the lakes. It was quite a hike and the last part was straight up a steep mountain in order to get good views of the lake. And boy, were they great views. We sat on the cliff edge eating our sandwiches and contemplating how lucky we were. The lakes are still frozen although they are just starting to melt around the edges.

Our route back to the campsite took in 5 more of the 8 lakes up is the mountains. It was really beautiful. Amazingly, made even more so by the fact that it snows almost the entire day. It was even better than walking in the sunshine. Beautiful in fact.

Back at the camp, we decided to stay in the ger tonight. After dinner we had lots of laughs with the two mongolian guys from the ger and Bogie and Dogie our guides.

Mongolia tour 9th May, 2008

Day 3. On waking this morning we discovered that it had snowed overnight and everything looked completely different to yesterday. After breakfast we headed off to the mountains where we will do a bit of treking.

We are being accompanied on our trek by 2 young guys who are going to lead our pack horses.

The climb up into the mountains was quite hard going. It got gradually colder the higher we went but the scenery is spectacular. We found a patch of ground up on the top of the mountain and as it had started snowing! we built a campfire to keep us warm.

However, the snow was the least of our problems. We discovered that the questhouse had only given us a one man and a two man tent for 5 of us. Now even with my questionable maths skills, I know that just isn't going to work. Lucky Kenneth had to share the 2 man with our two (female) guides whilst David and I got the 1 man (our two horse wranglers walked to the nearest ger for the night). Kenneth definately had the better deal. Not only was our tent quite possibly the most claustraphobic tent in the universe but it also leaked. We got up at 5am because we couldn't stand it any longer.

Mongolia tour 8th May, 2008

Day 2 of our trip. After breakfast the nomads said that they had something we might like to see. It turned out to be the castration of the young goats and sheep. Kenneth, our Swedish tour buddy had to walk away as it made him feel ill. I was more concerned about the fact that they save the 'bits' that they cut out and cook them. The men eat them because they think it enhances their manliness. Needless to say, Kenneth and David both passed on that one.

After that delightful start to the morning, we went for a horse ride to see the neighbours (about 40 minutes away) so that our nomadic friend could help castrate his neighbours goats. (He seemed worrying cheerful about the whole business). Afterwards, we left to go to the camel camp to have a camel ride.

When we got there, it was blowing a sandstorm but we hardy souls just bit the bullet and sent for it. The camels were the 2 humped variety and actually not that uncomfortable. However, Linda would like it pointed out that she had WOODEN saddles on both the horse and camel today. Whereas the guys had soft padded saddles. Did they think I had more padding of my own perhaps!?!

Later, after a few more hours in the bus we arrived at another ger where we will spend the night. The land is very rocky here. It is all volcanic rock which is very strange looking and just scattered about the landscape as if a giant had just picked them up and scattered them about. It is also bloody freezing and really windy. Luckily, the ger is really warm and cozy.

Mongolia tour 7th May, 2008

Day 1 of our tour found us driving through the desert in a russian army bus. This beast could tackle just about any terrian Mongolia can throw at it.

We stopped at the Hustai National Park which is home to over half of Mongolias Takhi wild horses. They were wiped out years ago but where re-introduced in the 60's and are now doing quite well.

On the way to our next destination we saw 3 herds of wild gazelle which are very rare here. Most people don't get to see them so we were really lucky. We raced along at 60km p hour and they were running alongside us! We also saw a lot or marmots which they eat here. Not sure if we'll get any on this trip.

The countryside is fantastic here. Nothing for miles and miles. No cars, people, electricity pylons, no mobile phone masts. Just nothing.

We are staying with a nomadic family tonight in their ger. It's incredibly warm inside with a wood (or dung) burning stove, 3 hard beds and a table. Oh, and a tv! (powered by solar panels). We all slept like logs.

Ulaanbatar, Mongolia 5th May, 2008

After arriving in UB we spent a few days wandering about looking at the sights. UB looks very Russian. I was expecting it to be very chinese but it definately feels more Eastern European. Lots of concrete tower blocks, long straight roads and communist statues left by the Russians. It's nice enough but definately not high on the pretty city list.

We have arranged to go on a tour around the countryside with our guesthouse (The Golden Gobi) which is really nice. It's family run and very homely. Mama makes everyone breakfast each morning. Yesterday they discovered that they had just got into the new edition of Lonely Planet so we had a party last night (lots of vodka). There are some very sore heads this morning.

Erlian, China 2nd May, 2008

We had a hilarious and eventful morning! After talking to other people around town last night we discovered that every man and his dog were going to try to get tickets for tonights train to UB. Therefore, we all got up at 5am to get in the queue at the ticket office which opened at 9am. Our cunning plan was only slightly foiled by the fact that about 50 hardy Mongolians had beaten us to it and were already in the queue.

We nethertheless joined the back of the queue as required. However, after about 2 hours we discovered that neither Chinese nor Mongolians quite understand the very British concept of queueing. Everyone was just wandering over and finding some pretext or other to join the queue wherever he saw fit. David, quite rightly decided if you can't beat 'em, join 'em and slyly made friends with the guys that were right at the front of the queue and bagged himself a place right at the front. Huh!

I eventually walked up to casually start talking to him and blimey! I was at the front of the queue too. By the time it got to 8.30am the 'queue' was about 200 strong and things were starting to get a bit ugly. A couple of fistfights broke out and there were scuffles galore as everyone started to get excited with the upcoming 9am deadline. Luckily, 3 policemen arrived to restore order and they certainly didn't mess around. Within seconds the partly deranged mob had become an organised queue the British would be proud of. It wasn't quite dignified with a fair bit of shoving and even hairpulling going on but it was a queue no less.

Amazingly, David and I hadn't lost our place at the front and when the doors opened at 9am I waltzed in second and without an fuss or bother secured sleeper tickets for both of us plus our Swedish and Mongolian friends. Blinding!!

We got the train over the border and on to UB. Mongolia here we come!

Erlian, China 1st May, 2008

After much discussion with other travellers we decided that rather than get the (rather expensive) Trans Mongolian train to Ulaanbaatar we would do what the Mongolians do and get a local train up to the border, get the shuttle bus across the border, then get another local train to UB on the Mongolian side.

So we got the sleeper train to Erlian which is the border town and found ourselves a hotel room (no mean feat when no one in this town speaks English, all signs are in Chinese only and we speak no Chinese). All fine so far...

Unfortunately, we awoke this morning to discover that today is a national holiday in china and the border is closed!! There are no mini buses crossing the border for the next 3 days and the only way to get across is to get a ticket tomorrow morning for the train that goes across the border tomorrow night! Bugger!

However, we did meet up with Kenneth, a Swedish guy who was at the Leo hostel with us in Beijing. He is travelling over with a Mongolian girl whose family own a guesthouse in UB. So we have all ganged together to try to overcome our tiny little border problem.

Beijing, China 27th April, 2008

Today we took a bus journey to the Summer Palace. It was huge, covering an enormous amount of land with a massive lake in the middle.

We did a lot of walking (mostly up and down hills and steps) but it was worth it. It's beautifully done. Even though there were about a squillion tourists, there were still places where you could get away from them and just imagine what it must have been like in the time when only the elite would have been allowed in there. It must have been incredibly peaceful.

Beijing, China 26th April, 2008

Today we did a trip to the Great Wall! It was a two hour drive outside Beijing. Most people visit the wall at Badaling but that part of the wall was reconstructed in the 80's and is full of tourists. We drove past all the coaches queueing to get in there and drove on for another 30 minutes to a tiny village in the middle of nowhere.

There we picked up our guide for the day who was a tiny 73 year old man. He and his 76 year old wife take turns guiding every day.

We hiked up into the hills for about 30 minutes which was quite hard going as the terrain here is quite rough. We were all out of breath (except our guide) but blimey! it was worth it. The wall here is completely untouched. No restoration work has been done at all so it's quite crumbly and parts have fallen down but it is still an amazing sight. We all just gasped with awe as soon as we stood on top of the first section and looked left and right to see the wall disappear into the distance in both directions. After the hard climb we had just done to get here it made the construction of the wall even more impressive. Everything required for it must have been lugged up the hill we had just trekked up.

We walked along the wall for about 3 hours which was harder going than it sounds. The wall follows the contours of the hills and some parts are so steep that you almost crawl up on your hands and knees. It's also not very wide in some parts where it has crumbled away so a bit nerve wracking too.

Just after we had been walking along it for about 2 hours and all feeling a little bit tired and thirsty, we came to one of the watch towers that are positioned on every hill top and inside what did we find but a little chinese man selling t-shirts, keyrings and more importantly water and beer! He just had a fold up table and a big smile. It was really funny seeing him there in the middle of nowhere. Apparently, he lugged his entire stock including table up there every morning and took it down again every night. Mind you, he sold quite a lot of beer!

After the trip we were treated to lunch back at the village and then went back to Beijing. During the entire trip we had met 2 other people on the wall. Both locals. No tourists, no touts, no flag waving guides. Just us and the wall. It was more than I had been expecting and will definately be one of the best memories of our trip.